Writing 201: From A Journey Through Fog… A One Way St w/ Azaleas shrub

A dog down a one way street
In search of pink poodles in heat
His eyes grew quite round
when, guess what he found?
Pink shrubbery with cats sending tweets!

Assignment 2: Your prompt: journey
Form: limerick (first two lines rhyme, then the next two, and the final verse rhymes with the first couplet)
Device: alliteration

Today’s word prompt is journey. Write a poem about anything that word evokes for you, from the excitement of a trip you’re about to embark on, the mental progress you witnessed someone make, or the struggles, pleasures, and extreme emotions that travel can bring about WP Daily Post: Writing 201

I’m wrapping up the week of Writing 201: Poetry by completing the remaining assignments in this post. It’s been quite the exhilarating journey and nothing gives me more joy than to exercise my brain creating some poetry. I decided to make the first one funny because I grew up reading pretty hilarious limericks with a bit of a silly edge to them. So the journey in this piece is playful and funny with unique surprises along the path. It is like life in that, if we stay flexible on the journey, we’ll see plenty to laugh about.

“Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.” William Shakespeare

Writing 201:From A Journey Through Fog… A Cardinal’s trust

Take your time with CardinalsRespect their skittish waysUnless you give this red bird … some spaceSuffice to say, you’ll always loseTo gain its trust for your photo shoots.

Assignment 3: Your prompt: Trust
Form: acrostic (An acrostic is any poem in which the first (or last) letters of each line combine to spell out a word or a phrase, or follow the order of the alphabet.)
Device: internal rhyme

Today’s word is trust: write a poem in which you address, reflect on, or tell a story about the feeling of trusting or being trusted by another (person, animal, object, potted plant…). Or about distrusting them (or not being trusted yourself). WP Daily Post: Writing 201

If you read my post on the rule of thirds, you’d know that I have birds wintering in my yard. They gather daily to be fed and because I always put food out for them, they’ve become comfortable with hanging around the balcony. I’ve tried to take pictures of the Cardinals and, because of their bright red plumes, they are skittish and constantly on the lookout because they are easy prey to bigger birds and cats. It has taken a while to gain some of their trust and so this poem touches on that point. This is true about building any kind of trust anyway; it takes time, a willingness to help, and a caring relationship of mutual respect.

More Below!

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” Anatole France

Writing 201:From A Journey Through Fog… A plastic garden rat

Plastic rats…
__________________
running amok in gardens…
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they run up the stairs to taunt us…
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We sometimes wish for real ones to appear…
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And put them on cheap buses leaving for who-cares…
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Who plants plastic rats in a beautiful, fertile garden…?
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Assignment 4: Your prompt: Animal
Form: Concrete poetry(Any poem that’s typographically arranged to represent a specific shape (recognizable or not) is a concrete, or “shape” poem)
Device: Enjambment (focus on the arrangement of words on the page; when a grammatical sentence stretches from one line of verse to the next)

Today’s word is Animal: Polar bears, microbes in your cells, unicorns, your pet hamster, lolcats: find a way to include an animal, today’s word prompt, in your poem. Or write about a situation that can bring out the animal in you (or someone else). Or dig deeper into the word’s etymology (anima = latin for breath). One way or another, give us a beast of a poem.WP Daily Post: Writing 201

This poem was a bit more challenging because I kept forgetting the enjambment and had to go back and change a few words around. What i love about poetry is that, like Tweets and Haiku, you have to train your mind to say less and mean more. When you look at this piece on the “Animal ” in the garden, it is really a look at the world we inhabit and how we fall for things that are not real; like the plastic grin on that rat’s face… hm mm

“Derive happiness in oneself from a good day’s work, from illuminating the fog that surrounds us.” Henri Matisse

Writing 201:From A Journey Through Fog… Reflections on a Foggy Day

On wintry days, we take long walks in the foggy park
On blustery days, our joyful hearts go elsewhere…

On beautiful days, find joy on walks in the now sunny park
On fretful days, drown your stress in the cold river….

Assignment 5: Your prompt: Fog
Form: Elegy ( each couplet usually makes sense on its own, while forming part of a larger work)
Device: Metaphor Metaphors are everywhere in poetry and in everyday speech-I’m drowning in work

Today’s word prompt, FOG, can be taken in so many different directions: condensation on your car’s window. An eerie landscape (or streetscape) at dawn. Your glasses as you enter a warm room from the cold outside. The mental state of confusion, forgetfulness, or dementia. How will you introduce fog into your poem today? WP Daily Post: Writing 201

There’s something about fog that I find comforting. I’ve taken a ton of photos in the fog and I return to them again and again to learn what is asking to be seen and heard. For this piece, we had to employ elegy and metaphor. I wanted to tie the fog into the journey that started this assignment and so the walks are a way to demystify things that confuse us and pursue those that comfort us. I haven’t finished this piece as I have more to add to it. For now, lets lift the fog around us and enjoy the coming of spring. We should ask for nothing less.

Have a great week ahead!

This post was inspired by WP Writing 201: Poetry There will be ten assignments published daily between February 16-27 (weekends are off). Each assignment includes three optional elements: a word prompt, a poetic form, and a poetic device. Join In! It started on Monday, Feb 16th

Positive Motivation Tip: Wherever the journey started, there will be moments of fun and fog. Push through them and stay focused.

Awww… the red bird is so pretty! And i see that you talk about trust, and I feel that it needs to be earned, even in cases between human and animals…
P.S. I got a shock when I saw the fierce rat! Luckily it’s only a plastic one.

Writing about journey can be pretty easy but sometimes you can think of it as reflecting through life as well. Trust is also a topic that can be challenging to write on. This speaks more about experiences and close relationships with other people.

True… All of the prompts are pretty easy topics to write about. However, when you add the forms and devices, they become something more technical to do. Poets, like writers, have their preferred genre. I love haiku and limericks and find them quite easy to write. Other forms take more effort and that is why I’m enjoying the workshop. It forces me to step out of the familiar and try new forms. 🙂

I have a BA in English with a concentration in 19th century poetry. I am not much of a writer, but I love, love, love to see how a poem is constructed and the thought process behind creative writing in general. Those prompts are great!

It’s the first time I’ve ever heard of the term Enjampment. It sounds complicated, and when I read the description, it really is. nonetheless, I like how the other prompts are easy to follow when writing poetry.

I am a bird lover myself, for me birds are the embodiment of free spirit, they are such sweet innocent creatures that I also feed on my balcony every day. I love Cardinals for their awesome red color and feel inspired to write a poem about them as well.

i’m not really into poetry but i like the one you did for the prompt of trust. i’ve never ever heard of enjambment before. but it’s like the first and second line should technically be 1 complete sentence? then should the 3rd and 4th line follow this rule as well?